Talking to the Adoption Intake Worker

So last Friday I was procrastinating (like I am right now!) in my classroom and I figured that I wasn't doing anything particularly important so I had the time to call. I decided to place the call on my cell phone (which is a no no!) in my classroom since I didn't want to use one of the school phones. I don't know why I feel that I need to be secretive, but it's hard to find a private place in an elementary school!

To my surprise the intake worker answered the phone right away. She took a while to find my e-mail since she's has had quite a few requests for adoption information -- which is a good thing, yes?

Adopting from the Child.ren's A.id S.ociety seems to be quite the long and involved process. We have to attend an information meeting on February 22nd and then we need to get trained. The training process is called P.RIDE (I can't remember what the acronym stands for!) and it is 27 hours long . The C.AS runs the training twice a year and there is a waiting list (of course!). We can get certified privately but the course runs about $1400 for the both of us. 

After the P.RIDE training is done then we will be eligible for the home study process. Again, there is a wait list. 

After completing these two steps we will be able to be considered for adoption. 

The intake worker did say that if we were open to more ages and family histories then our opportunities will be more vast. When she asked me what ages we would consider I said not older than 7, but I would be willing to go a bit older. She also stressed that infant adoption is very rare, which I already knew.

I know that I may be reading into our conversation, but she almost sounded like she was trying to dissuade me from the process. She asked me why we were going this route and I told her that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and if we did the private adoption route that we wouldn't be able to afford it.

Now saying all of this, Mr. JB is all on fire to adopt from Haiti. He even said on Sunday that he wants a little kid to say things like, "Arrete Papa," (Stop Dad) to him. 

I know that we could borrow the money, or refinance our mortgage or even borrow from our families, but I don't want to go into any more debt than we are! House renovations, a mortgage and we'll have to buy a new car for Mr. JB  -- the spending list seems endless! 

We definitely need all of your good thoughts and prayers as we start this journey. It seems like there's going to be A LOT more waiting for us! Being an impatient person doesn't help at all!